Page 86 of Snow River

“Tory Johnson was the name of the girl whose disappearance I was investigating.It’s not that rare of a name, but not common either.”

“That was when, over seven years ago?”

His answer was a grunt as he scrutinized the scratchings.“Hers is one of the more recent names.Some of these are much older.You can tell by how weathered they are.I guess Grant was right, and this place is part of a trafficking operation.No one polices what goes on out here.From Firelight Ridge we can’t even see planes flying in here because there’s a ridge in the way.”

Another thought struck her as she stared at the names.“Bear, is this the evidence they want to destroy?”

“It could be part of it, but on its own it doesn’t mean much.It’s just a series of names.There must be more, probably in the other cabins or the main structure.There’s no place for anything to be hidden here.”

They looked around the tiny cabin, which was barely sixteen by sixteen feet.There was no obvious hiding place for anything.Their captors hadn’t even left them a water bottle, although they’d been kind enough to leave Lila’s backpack.

The sound of voices outside drew closer.Bear helped Lila as they both scrambled to their feet.The door opened and two men stepped through.One wore the same type of Gore-Tex snowmobile suit they’d seen at the Community.The other wore a thick Carhartt jacket and expensive boots.He was older, in his sixties, with a face ravaged by time and addiction.

Billy Hardwell.She was sure of it.

He gave them the genial smile of a politico.“You’re awake.Good.”

“Why are we here?”Bear demanded.

“That’s my question.Y’all are a long way from Firelight Ridge.This is private property.”

Lila let Bear do the talking while she focused on picking up on the man’s energy.He was nervous.Impulsive.A strange mix of good and bad intentions.“We were just out for a ski,” said Bear.“Didn’t mean to trespass.”

“See, I have a hard time believing that when I found this in her pocket.”Billy jerked his head toward Lila as he dangled the red silk bookmark before them.“I recognize this.It came from Nancy’s diary.”

Lila couldn’t keep quiet any longer.“So you’re Billy Hardwell!”

“I go by Bill now.New man, new name.”

“I don’t think it works that way,” Bear growled.“You can’t run from the past.If you could, you wouldn’t be here, would you?You came to erase the past.”

“No no no.”Hardwell shook his head back and forth, then ended on a nod.“Well okay.Maybe I did.But it’s for the future.My son’s a good man and he deserves a chance.”

That was what she’d picked up on…the mixed intentions.Burning the past to preserve his son’s future.

“So that’s what’s happening here.The coverup wasn’t enough, so now you’re going to destroy this place and any speck of evidence left in it.”Every line of Bear’s body vibrated with tension.“What about the women who could still be found?You could do some good right here, right now by turning yourself and all the evidence over to the police.That’show you make up for it.”

Hardwell looked over at the other man, who gave a tiny shake of his head.Maybe Hardwell wasn’t pulling all the strings, Lila thought.There were probably other powerful people who didn’t want anything coming to light about this place.

“Listen, I don’t want you guys to get hurt,” Hardwell said easily.“Just hand over Nancy’s journal and I’ll give you a head start before we light the match.”

“All we have is that bookmark,” Lila said, before thinking.Darn it, she should have stuck with her previous policy.She wasn’t cut out for delicate life-or-death negotiations.“I mean…with us.That’s all we have with us.”

Hardwell narrowed his eyes at her.“Where’s the rest?”

“That’s…” She glanced at Bear, silently begging him to pick up the baton.

“If you kill us, you’ll never know,” he said.“Seems like you wasted a lot of time searching this retreat.Came up empty, huh?”

He threw up his hands, looking so boyish that Lila could sort of understand how Nancy Butcher could have found him attractive.“It’s supposed to be here.Jenner grabbed that chick and brought her out here.Leverage to get that other guy to confess.Then she got away.I made him go after her because I remembered about Nancy’s journal.He never found her, never found the journal.Incompetence.”

“So Donald Jenner killed all those people, not Paul Anthony Bowman,” said Bear.“The wrong man went to jail.Died there.”

“None of that was my doing.My dad sent me to a fucking asylum.That wasn’t me.”He ran a shaky hand through his hair.“You can’t put that on me,” he repeated.

He had a conscience, she could tell.But he was also an emotional and psychological mess.

“You knew Nancy Butcher, didn’t you?You were fond of her, and that’s how you knew about her diary.Do you think she would like what you’re doing?Did Rita Casey come here?Did you kill her because of what she saw?”

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